Belgium: Blossoming business in Brussels as urban farms offer sustainable flowers
Creating a biodiversity heaven for pollinators was one of Malilo van Clooster’s goals when she started her sustainable flowers business four years ago in Linkebeek, a green suburban area on the outskirts of Brussels.
TRT World (Assoc Press}
June 17, 2020
Excerpt:
Malilo van Clooster’s orchard is part of Cycle Farm, an urban garden that includes larger land parcels devoted to vegetable farming.
On a sunny June day, the flowers are ready to be picked up by environmentally conscious clients who seek a local, pesticide-free alternative for their bouquets.
All flowers here bloom from organic seeds originating from Belgium or nearby France and England.
They’re grown without pesticides and only according to their natural life cycle, Malilo van Clooster explains. This means the orchard is closed in the winter months.
“I plant my flowers according to their blooming season. I don’t sow seeds that wouldn’t be able to blossom at that particular time of the year,” says Malilo van Clooster.
“We have access to a greenhouse that works as nursery and that can help a bit (with the flowers’ development) but the greenhouse isn’t heated and I don’t work out of the seasonal schedule so I can’t say ‘here, I have large quantities in the month of December’. It’s impossible to do that here in Belgium.”
